Attachment for sewer cleanout machines



April 5, 1949. H. J. SKETCHLEY I 9 ATTACHMENT FOR SEWER' CLEANOUT MACHINE Filed oct. 17, 194e w u Y Arrokwfn Patented Apr. 5, 1949 ATTACHMENT FOR SEWER CLEANOUT MACHINES Harry J. Sketchley, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application October 17, 1946, Serial No. 703,763

3 Claims.

This invention relates generally to a rotary sewer cleaning machine and more particularly to an attachment thereto which increases the safety and eciency of its operation.

' Rotary sewer cleaning machines generally eniploy a power-driven flexible cable or shaft the lead end of which carries a cutter head that is fed into a sewer pipe or other conduit having a stoppage of some kind which is necessary to cut away to make the pipe or conduit function. The cable or shaft usually is in the form of spring coils in close disposition to form a continuous flexible shaft which is wound on a horizontally disposed rotary storage drum and is adapted to be fed from the drum through a hollow trunnion at one end thereof and into the pipe to be cleaned. Preferably the shaft is of suilicient stiffness and has a diameter of suiicient size in relation to a given size of pipe to be cleaned, so that as the exible shaft is fed into the pipe and simultaneously rotated against the resistance of the cutterhead meeting obstructions therein, no kinking or looping of the shaft will occur. Usually lthe feeding ofthe flexible shaft is accomplished, except in larger machines, by hand. The operator stands alongside the machine and gradually feeds the eXible shaft into the pipe or conduit to be cleared of obstruction. The rotary movement in the usual machine, however, is achieved by rotating the drum together with the coils of flexible shaft stored thereon by means oi an electric motor. The rotation of the drum and the coiled flexible shaft on it causes the portion of the iicxible shaft which is inserted into the pipe to be rotated and the cutterhead on the end of the flexible shaft to be whipped about therein and to cut away any obstruction encountered.

Although storage drums have been provided in machines now known in the art which prevent the flexible shafting from being kinked as it is fed from the drum, there still remains the possibility of a kink or a loop being developed in that portion of the flexible shafting between the rotary sewer cleaning machine itself and the entrance to the pipe which is being cleaned. Sometimes as much as ten or twelve feet of cable or flexible shaft is left exposed between the point at which the shafting leaves the rotary sewer cleaning machine and at the point at which it enters the pipe. As long as no obstruction is encountered this does not present any very great diiiculty. If, however, the cutterhead encounters a very stubborn obstacle within the pipe, the operator may not detect it at rst and may continue feedingr some flexible s-hafting out of the rotary sewer cleaning ma--l chine.` As this cable is being rotated the outward' labout violently because it is rotated by the powerdriven drum of the sewer cleaning machine; this loop may seriously damage the cable or injure the operator and occurs with such rapidity and violence that the operator is helpless to do anything about it unless he has been provided with some special braking instrument or means of retracting the flexible shaft into the storage drum. It is useless to turn off the power which drives the storage drum since its momentum will cause it to continue to rotate for a few seconds, during which time considerable damage may be done.

One of the major objects of my invention, therefore, is to provide a means by which, in such emergencies, the liexible shaft may be quickly and rmly seized and braked and retracted into the storage drum, without injury to the operator.

'A second disadvantage or limitation of the small portable rotary sewer cleaning machine which is most generally used for pipe cleaning is that the exible shaft must be fed from the rotating drum into the pipe by hand. lIhis means that the operator must sit adjacent the shaft and pull length after length from the drum and push it into the pipe opening. In order to relieve the operator of this tiring and at times dangerous work, it is dey sireable that some means of slowly feeding the flexible cable be provided. In large and expensive means, this has been accomplished by feed rolls or other devices which drive the cable out of the storage drum and into the pipe, economical or practical with the small rotary cleaning apparatus, however.

It is the second major object of my invention,

therefore, to provide a simple attachmentfor the' universally used standard type of rotary sewer cleaning machine which may be used to cause the machine to automatically feed the cable simultaneously with rotation thereof.

A further advantage of my invention is to pro-- vide attachments which will accomplish these various objects and yet be within convenient reach of the attendant when standing by the side of the machine in a position to feed the flexible shaftlng.

an attachment for the conventional type of rotary This is not Briey, I accomplish these objects by providingv 3 cludes two half-nuts which may be used to grip the exible shafting. These two half-nuts are internally threaded so as to t the contours of the helical spring which comprises the exible shafting. Thus, when the half-nuts are applied to grip the flexible shafting, the rotary movement thereof causes a backward or forward feeding of the flexible shafting depending upon the relationship between the direction of rotation and the sense in which the threads of the half-nut and the helix of the shaiting spring are wound.

There are many other objects and features ci the invention, too numerous to mention preliminarily but all of which will appear and be made v Figure 1 is a general perspective view of a conventional rotary sewer cleaning machine provided with an attachment constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the conventional rotary sewer cleaning .machine provided with my novel attachment;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a half-nut and a portion of flexible shafting which serves to illustrate the manner in which my novel attachment operates.

A simple but very efcien-t rotary sewer cleaning machine of the type for which my attachment is devised is described in a patent numbered 2,167,268 and issued on July 5, 1939, to G. J. Sanger on a rotary `sewer cleaning machine. A machine of this type, as seen in Figure 1, is comprised of a suitable supporting frame I0 which includes two front vertical members Il and I2, which converge at their upper ends to support a trunnion I3; and a pair of rear vertical members I4 which support at their upper ends a shelf I5; and a pair of intermediate vertical members I6 which support at their upper ends a second trunnion I1. A horizontally disposed storage drum I8, upon which is coiled a exible shafting I9 (preferably formed of helically wound spring stock), is rotatably mounted in trunnions I3 and I1. An electric motor 28 with suitable reduction gear `2I is coupled by means of coupling 22 to the shaft 23 of storage drum I8. Power is supplied to electric motor through conductor 24 and the control for motor 20 is provided by means of foot switch 25 which is connected through conductor 26 to a relay 21 which controls the supply or interruption of power to motor 20 from power supplying conductor 24.

Front trunnion I3 is hollow and exible shafting I9 passes out through it and, ,as previously described, may have its outer end provided with a cutter not shown, which may be inserted into the opening of the pipe to be cleaned.

The machine as thus far described is typical of rotary sewer cleaning machines upon the market and particularly of the Sanger machine which is very popular in the plumbing trade. The novel attachment which comprises my invention includes a mounting plate 30 which is supported vertically between front vertical members I I and I2 preferably by being welded thereto. Projecting from the front of mounting plate 30 are two horizontally spaced members 3I and 32 in which is journaled a horizontal shaft 33 which is disposed transversely with respect to the axis of drum I8. Borne on shaft 33 is a small frame 34 in which is journalled a short shaft 35 at right angles to shaft 33. A pair of operating handles- 31 and 38 have their lower ends rotatably mounted on shaft 35 and are thus mounted in a manner which makes them universally movable. Shaft 35, frame 34, shaft 33, and supporting members 3| and 32 thus comprise a gimbal mounting for the lower ends of handles 31 and 38. Welded to shafts 31 and 38 at a point about two-thirds their length from their lower, pivoted ends, are halfnuts 39 and 48 disposed opposite one another in a manner so that their split faces will match and will iit flexible shafting I9 at the point where it emerges from hollow trunnion I3 when handles 31 and 38 are brought together, as seen from the y side in Figure 2.

In order to provide a straight section I9a of iiexible shaft I9 immediately adjacent hollow trunnion I3, so that shaft I9 may be readily gripped by half-nuts 31 and 38, I provide a guide bushing 42 supported by supporting bars 43 a short distance in front of trunnion I3 and coaxial therewith.

It will be seen that half-nuts 39 and 40 together with their supporting handles 31 and 3l provide a means for rigidly gripping cable I9 and controlling movement thereof. When it is desired that cable I9 be gripped for some length of time by means of half-.nuts 39 and 48, it would be very tiring if the operator had to exert continual manual eiort to retain handles 31 and 38 in position. I therefore provide a metal loop or piece of pipe section 44 which may be slipped over the upper ends of the two handles 31 and 38 when they are in cable gripping position and which will serve to hold them firmly together.

When half-nuts 39 and 40 grip the small helix of cable I9, it will cause cable I9 to experience either an expelling or retractive action depending upon the direction of rotation of drum I8 as related with the screw action of cable I9 in half-nuts 39 and 49. When drum I8 is rotating in a clockwise direction as viewed by the operator from the position of bushing 42 looking towards drum I8, the iiexible shaft I9 is caused to slowly withdraw through hollow trunnion I3 into storage drum I8. If, however, storage drum I8is driven so as to rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed by the operator from his position near guide bushing 42, and flexible shaft I9 is subjected to the gripping action of halfnuts 39 and 40, then the rotation of flexible shaft I9 in a counterclockwise direction as it passes through half-nuts 39 and 40 will cause it to feed slowly outwards from trunnion I3 and through bushing 42 and into the pipe to be cleaned. These two modes of operation are the bases for the two different purposes for which my novel attachment may be used.

Assume for purposes of explanation that it is desired to employ the sewer cleaning device to clear obstructions in a pipe in which it is expected several obstructions may be encountered which will engage the cutter on the end of cable I9 and impede its further progress. In this case the flexible shaft I9 will be started into the pipe with half-nuts 39 and 48 left in a disengaged position as shown in Figure l. The operator will assume a position near guide bushing 42 and will grasp the exible shaft I9 in a portion des-V ignated by the numeral I9a and will gradually feed it by hand out of storage drum I8 into the pipe to be cleared. Assume that he then suddenly encounters so serious an obstruction in the pipe that the cable I9 cannot progress further within it. As previously explained, in the absence of any safety attachment cable I9 is then very likely to whip about and cause injury to the operator or damage to the cable itself. If the rotary sewer cleaner is provided with the device as disclosed herein, however, the operator quickly seizes the operating levers 3l and 38 and pulls them together so as to close the opposite halves of half-nuts 39 and t9 upon cable i9. The action of these half-nuts is then to feed cable i9 forceably back into storage drum i8 without endangering the hands of the y,operator. Ring ld may then be slipped over operating levers 3l' and 38 to hold them together and to hold the half-nuts 59 and di) in an engaging position. When used in this manner, my device serves as a safety apparatus and as a means for retracting the flexible shafting i9 without manual effort by the operator.

The second method of operation for my device is employed when it is desired to feed the flexible shafting i9 slowly from storage drum I8 into pipe without the constant attention and manual effort by the operator, and when it is not expected that a serious obstruction will encountered. In this case, storage drum Ii! is rotated in a counterclockwise direction and the halfnuts 39 and lli are held in gripping position on flexible shafting i 9 by means of levers 31 and 38, preferably by locking them into an engaging position by means of ring M. In this position7 the fiexible shafting will feed slowly into the pipe because of the action of threads in halfnuts 39 and lli! on the spiral winding of flexible shaft i9 as it is rotated by the rotation of drum I8.

The device is simple of construction and may be assembled entirely from standard steel components or weldments thereof.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention will now be understood. The particular embodiment of the invention herein shown for illustrative purposes, however, is of course to be considered as merely illustrative of rather than restrictive on the invention, and is therefore subject to various changes in design, structure and arrangement without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention or of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An attachment for a sewer cleaning machine of the type having a power-driven rotary drum adapted to hold a flexible shaft, said shaft being a helical wound wire shaft having a helicoidal exterior surface adapted to be fed through a stationary hollow trunnion axially of said rotating drum, said attachment comprising a means positioned outboard of said trunnion and comprising a guide in axial alignment with said trunnion, a plate adapted to hold said guide and to connect said attachment to said machine, a pair of handles universally mounted on said plate and extending upwardly beyond and on each side of said exible cable, a half-nut mounted remote from the upper end of each of said handles and being formed with a helicoidal interior surface complementary to the helicoidal exterior surface of said shaft, and being adapted to grip said shaft upon movement of said handles together,

2. An attachment for a sewer cleaning machine of the type having a power-driven rotary drum adapted to hold a flexible shaft, said shaft being a helical wound wire shaft having a helicoidal exterior surface adapted to be fed through a stationary hollow trunnion axially of said rotating drum, said attachment comprising a means positioned outboard of said trunnion and comprising a guide in axial alignment with said trunnion, a plate adapted to hold said guide and to connect said attachment to said machine, a pair of handles universally mounted on said plate and extending upwardly beyond and on each side of said flexible cable, a half-nut mounted remote from the upper end of each of said handles and being formed with a helicoidal interior surface complementary to the helicoidal exterior surface of said shaft, being adapted to grip said shaft upon movement of said handles together, and means associated with one of said handles adapted to lock said handles together in operating position.

3. In a power-operated sewer cleaning machine having a substantially conical-shaped drum rotatably mounted thereon and a flexible cable disposed within said drum adapted to rotate therewith, said cable being formed with a helicoidal outer surface, means for causing longitudinal movement of said cable upon the rotation thereof, said means comprising a bearing positioned outboard of said rotatable drum in spaced relation and in axial alignment therewith adapted to hold a portion of said cable in axial alignment with said drum, a vertically disposed arm mounted for universal movement and extending upwardly on each side of said cable, each of said arms having a semi-cylindrical gripping member secured thereto remote from the upper end of said arms, said gripping members adapted upon abutment together to dene an axial bore having a helicoidal surface and adapted upon being abutted together over said cable to cause longitudinal movement of said cable upon the rotation of said cable, and locking means disposed adjacent the upper end of one of said arms adapted to engage the other of said arms to hold said arms locked in operating position.

HARRY J. SKETCHLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,912,525 Hotchkiss June 6, 1933 2,037,103 Yohn Apr. 14, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 245,595 Germany Apr, 12, 19.12 

